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Subject:Zwinger von Himmel Letter
Date: Mon, 18 Feb 2019 21:17:43 -0500 (EST)
From: Zev Angelou [email protected]
To: [email protected]

Sorry for the delay in sending you a letter of recommendation that could possibly help guide anyone in looking for an awesome German Shepherd. So, many years ago I used to help “train” protection dogs: I wasn’t actually doing any training, I was pretty young and I didn’t really know anything, I just wore the sleeve and the full protection suit. What I did learn, was the vast difference between American line GSD and the German imports. I knew one day, when I was finally able to purchase a dog, that was the dog I needed to have.

Approximately 30 years later, wife and three rambunctious kids (11,9, & 5), our family decided it was time to add to the family. I was scared to death, I pushed this idea of getting a GS import on my wife and kids, obviously sight unseen. My wife comes from a family that only took in rescues. So, it took some convincing, and in ten years of marriage it was the most contentious, being that my mother in law would butt in right when I was making headway. Months passes with researching different breeders, and some were more expensive and some less, but after speaking with so many of these “breeders”, I was convinced on where to go. Anyway, Roger was unbelievably knowledgeable, and took everything into consideration. How do I know? Because I seriously have everything I could have wanted. “Roger, I need a structurally sound, athletic GS, that I “could” train up to Schutzhund, that will get along within a house that has an open-door policy with different children coming in and out or all ages, some frequent visitors some new, deal with rather large groups of people during holiday parties. I need one that can put up with, at times, very annoying children. A dog that will be friendly to strangers, other dogs, and different animals (not extreme prey drive), but also a dog that will play ball with the drive of a lab. I also wanted a puppy, and that is something that would make having all those things a guarantee, pretty hard to speak for. A puppy can become anything, Roger was certainly right here, “I am giving you something that can become what you want”, if I raise him correctly. Luckily, he has become it all, in spite of my children putting a “wrench” in any training I try. Although, I have taken Roger’s advice, limited training until he’s older. Loki is nine months old now, and I honestly, there is rarely a time I take him for a walk that people do not tell me how gorgeous he is, just today, a woman stopped traffic to ask me about him, where I got him, how old, and how gorgeous he was! It was embarrassing, with traffic building and cars honking (true story!) I get responses like, “that’s what a GSD should look like”. I went through many breeders, visited many in the North East in order to appease the family, all the while I knew where my dog was going to have to come from, it was very hard to walk away from eight week old GS puppies with children screaming, “that’s the one we want daddy, please look how cute!” Luckily, he is everything this family needed, and if it wasn’t, I was the one going to the dog house. Again, he has a lot of growing to do, I received him when he was thirteen weeks, and my crazy house isn’t exactly the perfect environment to raise a calm German Shepherd, but with all the chaos that is exactly, so far, what he has become, that, is very telling as to the high quality breeding our Loki comes from and I wouldn’t hesitate to get another and it wouldn’t be from anyone else! He is gorgeous and athletic, kind to all and wary(protective) when the time and place seem clear to be that way: he has a clear mind, and will play like a beast. His first encounter with a train that comes by the field within 20 feet he didn’t blink, he just wanted the ball. I sent that video to Roger to show the quality of nerve. He has never ever been nauseous in our cars, when he goes traveling to visit friends he is a perfect companion, as long as you get some energy out. His first encounter in an open field with deer, all he did was run in between them and retrieve sticks, he shows only an exuberance to play with any animal. Sorry for this long letter, and I will be sure to follow up as he gets older and I can speak with confidence as to how he goes through his next phases of physical and mental growth. Roger, I could not ask for more, thank you. Feel free to contact me if you have any reservations about buying a dog overseas and sight unseen, I certainly did and it was without a doubt the best decision I could have made regarding purchasing a new family member. I will send some pics of our Loki, from 13 weeks (he came right out of the crate after his flight, wagging his tail and greeting the family at Newark Airport, no signs of stress at ALL!) Oh, and in the time since we’ve had him, he has had a total of five accidents (house training) in all. Four of them were definitively a product of my laziness watching a game.